500 Years of the Provincial Capital City of Linz – Anniversary 1990

The 500th anniversary of the day on which Emperor Friedrich III first officially mentioned Linz as provincial capital in a document was celebrated on 10 March 1990. Linz commemorated its half-millennium with more than 170 events.

A Celebration for Everyone

The anniversary year 1990 was launched with sound and fireworks on New Year's Eve. The broad range of events accounted for the cultural dynamics of recent years with numerous innovations and single projects by contemporary Upper Austrian artists. The LinzFest, which took place for the first time, offered the enjoyment of culture for the broad audience on eight stages on the banks of the Danube and a floating stage in the Danube. The LinzKunst festival presented contemporary art by more than 150 Upper Austrian artists, not only in museums, but also throughout the entire city centre. The festival centre was located on main square, with the art ship anchoring there.

Custom-Made Productions

The production of the Richard Strauss opera "Salome" in the Brucknerhaus Linz attracted international attention. The visualization artist Hans Hoffer turned the gallery of the Brucknerhaus auditorium into a spectacularly designed stage. The specially composed "Kepler Cloud of Sound" by Walter Haupt resounded for the first time in the Danube Park at the Visualized Cloud of Sound. Finally in December, the Peace and Human Rights Conference was held in Linz. The anniversary year also became a year of encounter with thousands of guests from at home and abroad.

Linz as Exhibition Center

Various exhibitions focused on the theme Linz in different ways. The City Museum Nordico showed "Linz in Picture and Model". The public showed great interest in the two-part Upper Austrian Provincial Exhibition "Man and Cosmos" in the Castle Museum, which provided a comprehensive representation of the history of discovery of the modern scientific world view. The Discovery film "The Dream", screened in the IMAX space cinema in the Castle Museum courtyard, provided the perfect illusion of seeing planet earth from a distance of 450 km. "Origin and Modernism" in the New Gallery of the City of Linz focused on the fascinating confrontation between archaeological objects and modern art.

Building Projects During the Anniversary Year

Not only the children's cultural centre Kuddelmuddel was completed in 1990, but also the extension of the event centre Posthof was celebrated in the fall of the same year. Teachers, alumni and students from the master class for metal works installed ten metal "Kepler Ellipse" sculptures there. During the anniversary year, the cultural association and venue Stadtwerk-statt moved into its new residence in the old part of Urfahr, a district on the Northern side of the Danube, and the Theater Phönix found a new home in the remodeled facilities of the former Phönix cinema. A total of ten anniversary fountains were inaugurated in 1990 in various districts of Linz. In the same year, the ground-breaking ceremony of the Music Pavilion in the Danube Park took place, where since 1991 performances have regularly been presented during summer.